WiB Woman Of The Month is a first- person column series that highlights the powerhouse of a woman we've had the pleasure to talk to, their individual journeys, how they broke through gender related barriers and their advice on a variety of business and personal issues!
It was over the summer of 2021 that I first had the chance to meet Tania Wu. Having gotten the opportunity to interview her among others for a panel discussion I found myself very excited to meet her.
After all, she was one of HKUST's very own, working for two startup projects at the time- one of which was focused towards women's safety. She was a full- stack Engineer at Gitstart and had engaged in several projects with companies such as Rookie Fund, Zingbox Inc., Mettā and Microsoft. Besides this, she also held her name in the Dean's List (much to the awe of the student in me!)
When I met Tania for this blog, my assumptions about her from the summer held true- quietly ambitious with an easy- going air, she was someone who took in as much as she contributed to the conversation. With her open- mindedness, knowledge about various subject matters and her winning smile one cannot help but take an instant liking to her! Here are some of the highlights of our conversation:
How would you describe your high school life? Did you always know that you were inclined to Engineering?
"I did my high school in Taipei and the local curriculum only allowed you to choose three different streams that you wanted to pursue: There was the Business/Law stream, the Engineering stream and the Medical stream. Up until high school I always wanted to be a Doctor because that was the only profession I knew of, at the time! So I tried a couple of summer camps at different universities but even then I wasn't sure if Engineering was suited for me. It was when I was applying for University that I suddenly decided that I don't want to be a Doctor because I thought, 'Ah, I have to study for seven years and what if I don't like it!' So I applied to UST's Engineering (also because I could switch to Business in case I wanted to!)"
You were an international student when you came to HKUST, how would you describe your university life and to what extent has it contributed to your career success today?
"I was open to trying out various extracurricular activities when I joined HKUST. In my first week The BASE was just about to open and they were recruiting people who could help out. By chance, I applied and participated in a lot of events which leveraged me to try to bring people I networked with to campus- this helped me engage a bit in terms of entrepreneurship. Besides this, I believe UST provides a lot of extracurricular opportunities for students and one can try out different activities to see which one they like/suits them the most."
In your opinion, does the treatment of women change according to international culture?
"The biggest epiphany that I've had regarding this was when I discovered something about women's health in Asia. Growing up, not much was taught to me about my body and when I went to Seattle the first time was when my roommate talked to me about the birth control she was using and the benefits of it. That was actually the first time I knew that there was not just one but many different types of hormonal birth control. It was mind opening to me to know that this is something you can talk to your friends about! It was also then that I found out that the University there had a women's health clinic which got me thinking- 'HKUST needs a women's health clinic!' So yes, this issue regarding women's health was something that I noticed."
Your impressive body of work has ranged from contributing to IMMI Watch to your active presence at Interact to your work at Gitstart. Let’s talk about Gitstart first, how did you come to know of this initiative and what prompted you to take on your current role?
"I knew about Gitstart from freshman year from my work at The BASE! There was an Engineering Student Union dinner which needed an emcee and one of the speakers at that event was the Founder of Gitstart. At the time when I was looking for a job, I knew it was hard to get one which I really liked/enjoyed. I just wanted to ensure that I worked with someone I could learn from and ideally, it (Gitstart)
was a grad job that I could enjoy! I'm really glad I decided to reach out to the Founder of Gitstart and he was honestly one of the smartest people I knew and was really fun to work with and yeah- so far, so good!"
What is one advice you would give to our HKUST gals today? :D
"One advice is difficult- I feel like there's a lot of things that can prepare us for the world. But definitely, there might be people who tell you that you can't do certain things but definitely keep going for what you're interested in and don't take 'no' for an answer! Take good care of your mental health (pay a visit to the counselor, while it's free!) because this can help you achieve what you want!"
With that and the suggestion of meeting each other in person, I wished Tania a happy rest of the day in France and couldn't help but dwell on these moments in our conversation throughout my Sunday which I conclude, was a very fulfilling one after meeting her!